ARCHIVED: This map was created in 2007 and hence reflects online censorship data from that period in time. Please do not refer to this as current data. We maintain this page on our site as an archive for readers interested in the history of anonymous online censorship.

The recent explosion in new information and communications technology and the proliferation of easy-to-use, often free, software and low-cost methods of self-publishing ranging blogging to multimedia-sharing web applications, have turned Internet users into prosumers, propelling them to a position of potential competition with the mainstream media. Even more importantly, it has transformed them into citizen watchdogs tackling sensitive human rights issues and often serving as an unofficial media outlet for dissenting voices.

The blurring of the lines between citizen and professional journalism has also resulted in the former's increasing ability to sustain the work of human rights defenders and NGO’s through first-hand reporting of breaking news exposing human rights violations, torture and harassment. The recent success of this army of citizen journalists and citizen watchdogs in Pakistan, Burma, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, have confirmed once again the enormous potential of user-generated content as an advocacy tool and as an alternative and independent source of news. The common characteristic of all these cases is that they have made efficient use of web 2.0 technologies in exposing abuses and injustice.

But despite the potential of web 2.0, in regions ridden with censorship and where the state holds the monopoly on information dissemination, open access to the Internet is often a tough goal to achieve considering the “authoritarian reflex” that is activated each time the repressive regimes feel threatened. Governments who already excel at muzzling the traditional media have been turning their efforts lately to the Internet, doing all they can to tighten their grip on this last refuge of communication. The rise of user-generated content is perceived as a threat by a growing number of countries who are seeking to block and control its dissemination by legal and technical means. Rarely does a week pass by without news about yet another major website being blocked by repressive states. Multimedia-sharing websites, social networking communities, mapping tools and popular web 2.0 websites are becoming a primary target of state censorship in more and more countries.

Fortunately, against this substantial and highly restrictive filtering system targeting web 2.0 tools being deployed by various countries worldwide, is resistance from numerous anti-Internet filtering movements. In almost every country where state censorship prevails is a corresponding anti-censorship initiative led by citizens. And in addition to rallying to protest censorship, local activists are also continuously working on new ways of bypassing the blocks, advocating to keep the web open and interacting with each other across linguistic and cultural borders and barriers.

In order to shed light on the battle being waged between state censorship and anti-censorship groups, I’ve created the Access Denied Map, an interactive Google Maps mashup that provides information about the censorship efforts targeting various online social networking communities and web-based applications. Each marker on the map highlights the situation in a specific country that is barring access to major websites. Clicking on the marker opens an information window containing text, images or video describing the nature censorship and the efforts to combat it.

The Map does not aim to index all kinds of web filtering, but rather to provide an overview of online censorship efforts related to the social web and major web 2.0 websites. This project will also track and explore the relationships between anti-censorship groups in different parts of the world who are collaborating to defend the right to access web 2.0 tools and websites.

The Access Denied Map will try to contextualize and situate that battle by focusing on two areas:

the amplifying of local campaigns defending the right to access web 2.0 tools and websites (circumvention techniques, online petitions and campaign.)

The Access Denied Map will lead interested readers to content that enables them to support anti-censorship movements and keeps readers abreast of the filtering situation in various parts of the world. It will also facilitate collaboration between activists, allowing them to find each other, share tactics and strategies and experiences.

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